


SASO 2015 Fill Collection: Bonus Round 4

by Kiriska



Category: Free!, Haikyuu!!, ちはやふる | Chihayafuru, 弱虫ペダル | Yowamushi Pedal
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Body Worship, Butts, Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2015, Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Prompt Fill, Self-cest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4500198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiriska/pseuds/Kiriska
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble collection for SASO 2015 bonus round #4, where the theme was "official art." The prompt for each fill is linked at the beginning of each chapter, which is titled with the relationship and series. (A fill collection for BR3 is not missing. I didn't write anything for BR3.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chihaya/Taichi/Arata (Chihayafuru)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [simpleruser](http://simpleruser.dreamwidth.org/profile): [(click for image)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjA-GBFCQAIgre_.jpg:large)

Taichi likes that Chihaya ties her hair up to play.  
  
It never starts as a neat bun -- Chihaya is careless and sloppy, and long strands of hair are be left free even from the beginning. She is eager to play and can't be bothered to fuss over how neatly her hair is tied back. Portions of hair still spill over her face when she leans over her cards, and she wastes precious seconds pulling them back, again and again.   
  
It is frustrating and breathtaking at the same time.  
  
As each game progresses, her hair falls apart in small ways. As she plays, hair spills lose with every movement, every swipe of her arm, every sharp intake of breath. Sometimes, in the silence between syllables, another strand will fall free. Long hairs cling to her face and neck as her skin glows with sweet sweat. When he is her opponent, Taichi makes a point to not look up too often, lest he forgets what he's doing.  
  
In games especially difficult or emotional, her hair becomes undone completely, and Chihaya will tie it up again, more roughly and more hurriedly than before. Her appearance is always an afterthought to her, but no matter how the game goes, no matter how Chihaya struggles or doesn't -- she is always beautiful.   
  
Secretly, not so secretly, Taichi likes to see Chihaya's hair falling slowly. She is a chaotic, graceless beauty. Her focus is elsewhere. He loves this about her, but he loves that she is beautiful, still.  
  
Arata likes it when Chihaya leaves her hair loose to play.  
  
It happens very rarely, only when Chihaya is so eager to play that she forgets. Her hair falls down to her elbows when she leans over her cards, and there's acknowledgment in her eyes every so often that she should have tied it up. Sometimes, she will tie it up mid-game into the usual rushed, haphazard bun or ponytail, but more often, these are the games where she will struggle through with her beautiful hair flying in every direction, unable to spare any thought to convenience or practicality as she sits poised over the cards, waiting for the next syllable with bated breath.  
  
She squints through the long strands and swipes her arm, slams her hand down with no regard for herself. Now and again, broken hairs fall over the playing field. Her passion is overwhelming and her beauty eternal. Arata likes the opportunity to see that it isn't only a metaphor, and he, too, cannot look up too often, or he becomes lost in the gleaming hair.  
  
Chihaya doesn't think about her hair, and she doesn't notice when the boys around her stare, or look away hurriedly. She looks down at the cards and feverishly tries to memorise. When the game is over though, sometimes she can catch a blush and a too-long stare. She never knows what it's about, but they always make her smile.


	2. Tanaka/Tanaka (Haikyuu!!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [putsch](http://putsch.dreamwidth.org/profile): [(click for image)](http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire3/49f076d1b920432f0c4a2d92b9d5d12a1409050309_full.png)

Tanaka Ryuunosuke had a girlfriend.  
  
He was the only person on the entire team with a girlfriend. Nishinoya Yuu was a little suspicious, but more than that, he felt a huge responsibility to ensure that the girl was actually worthy of Karasuno's wing spiker.   
  
The trouble was that despite being loud and proud of his romantic achievements, Tanaka was actually weirdly secretive about her. For example, Nishinoya didn't even know her name -- Tanaka only ever referred to her as "his girl" -- and though he mentioned that she wasn't a student at their school, Tanaka didn't ever say where she did attend.   
  
The things Tanaka revealed about his girlfriend were boring for the most part: things that probably no one cared about except the boyfriend, but Nishinoya took note of them dutifully anyway. She liked melon pan and strawberry milk and knew a lot about volleyball, though she neither played nor managed a team. She liked scary movies and grungy fashion. She was good at English, but bad at math. She had an older brother; her birthday was in March, and her lucky number was five.  
  
These were not things Nishinoya could use to judge her worthiness, though he did notice that her interests seemed weirdly and perfectly aligned with Tanaka's. Nishinoya didn't know much about romantic compatibility, but he didn't think that couples ought to agree on everything. Wasn't that a bit boring? Would Tanaka be bored by his girlfriend very soon, if she only ever agreed with him about everything? More research was required on all fronts.  
  
Nishinoya glimpsed her on occasion: she showed up sometimes before and after practices and games, though for some reason, he never saw her in the bleachers when they were actually playing. She was pretty enough, but she wore too much makeup and her voice was kind of weird and shaky. Sometimes she brought snacks for the team, but her cooking was terrible. Nishinoya felt a bit bad judging her on those things though.  
  
He wanted to know how she treated Tanaka, but he never seemed to be around when his girlfriend showed up. Moments before she arrived at their game, he'd be in the bathroom or maybe off intimidating the other team. Nishinoya never managed to find him before the girlfriend left, though she never seemed to mind his absence. "Oh, don't mind Ryu-kun. You don't have to go find him," she'd say. "I've got to get going though!"  
  
It was maddening.  
  
During the game, Nishinoya would yell at Tanaka, but no matter how apologetic Tanaka seemed, he'd still disappear the next time his girlfriend showed up. Maybe he was embarrassed? And yet he still brought her up every opportunity he got.  
  
After a three months of trying to figure out whether Tanaka's girlfriend was worthy of him, the Karasuno libero decided that desperate times called for desperate measures and so he would follow Tanaka's girlfriend after she dropped off some honeyed lemons before practice. Daichi would be mad, probably, but that happened often enough anyway.  
  
Thankfully, Nishinoya was short and managed to slip out the door after the Girlfriend while his taller teammates all crowded together to grab a lemon slice for themselves. The Girlfriend left through the main gym door, but instead of heading back towards the school and the front entrance, she went around the side of the gym and towards the side door for the locker rooms. Maybe she was going to find Tanaka after all?  
  
The side door was supposed to be locked at all times, but if Tanaka knew she was coming, he might have opened it from the inside to wait for her. Nishinoya followed her at a safe distance, but dashed forward quickly once she rounded the corner, arriving just in time to see the locker door close behind her. Aha! Were they going to do lewd things in the locker room in the time before Daichi or Suga inevitably noticed that Tanaka had been gone for Far Too Long?  
  
Nishinoya crept to the side door and pressed his ear against it. It was a pretty solid door, but he could still hear footsteps and a locker door slamming inside. No makeout sounds though. Not that Nishinoya had ever really heard any before. Long minutes passed in silence though, and Nishinoya got more and more anxious as he waited. He'd hear footsteps before the Girlfriend got to the side door to leave, right? There's no way he'd be caught listening, right?   
  
Eventually, he heard Ukai yelling from the gym: "Where the hell is Nishinoya??"  
  
At that point, Nishinoya decided to just go in through the locker room. It was empty though, and the entire team, including Tanaka, was waiting for him inside the gym. He was able to hide his utter confusion at the disappearing Girlfriend while Ukai and Daichi yelled at him, but Nishinoya thought that Tanaka looked uncharacteristically worried about something.  
  
The next time that the Girlfriend showed up was in between their matches at a game. Tanaka, as usual, was no where to be found, and Nishinoya, without announcing it, decided to go back to the locker room to find him. The locker room was definitely empty though. So Nishinoya waited, quietly and in a corner of the room that wasn't visible from the entrance. This locker room didn't have double entrances though, so he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting -- there was no way the Girlfriend could meet Tanaka here and sneak out a back way, but... Nishinoya didn't know why his gut was telling him to wait, but he waited.  
  
Eventually, someone came into the locker room. In heels. He could hear them clicking against the tile. They opened a locker the next row over from Nishinoya and the heels came off. Was it the Girlfriend? What were they doing in the locker room, if not to meet Tanaka? Carefully, the libero crept towards the end of the row of lockers, and he turned the corner just as Tanaka was removing a long blonde wig from his bald head.  
  
They stared at each other for a long minute before Nishinoya walked wordlessly out of the locker room.  
  
Tanaka Ryuunosuke had a girlfriend. It was himself. Nishinoya decided that Tanaka was probably perfectly worthy of himself. The very next day though, Tanaka announced that he and his girlfriend had broken up. Nishinoya thought that that was really too bad.


	3. Aoyagi/Teshima (Yowapeda)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [Ethereally](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethereally): [(click for image)](http://i.imgur.com/o7nl1rJ.png)
> 
> This fill contains manga spoilers!

Aoyagi often did not understand the rules of Teshima's pride. Or, perhaps, it was more accurate to say that he did understand, but he didn't agree, and he thought they were sort of stupid most of the time.  
  
Teshima had worked harder than anyone else in their year. No one could dispute this. The cold, hard facts were that he had logged the most hours, arrived earliest and stayed the latest every day, and spent the most time outside of actual club activities thinking, breathing, and living his sport. Teshima knew more about cycling than anyone. He'd memorised entire books, entire days-long races. He knew in ridiculous detail every small part of the bicycle, every breath of every rider in every Tour.  
  
Teshima deserved to be captain, and he deserved to go to the Inter-High. And Aoyagi felt that Teshima knew this too, even if he constantly said otherwise, even if he seemed perfectly willing to let Koga take his place.  
  
"You look like you're more stressed about this than I am," Teshima said, laughing lightly from the other end of the tub.  
  
Aoyagi knit his eyebrows together and deepened his frown. "You're going to win," he mumbled.  
  
"I hope so," Teshima said, looking up at the ceiling again.  
  
"I'm not going if you aren't."  
  
"Hey, hey," Teshima chided gently, looking back to him. "Don't be like that. You don't gotta put more pressure on me, do you?" He laughed again.  
  
"You're going to win," Aoyagi repeated. "So it doesn't matter, right? It isn't extra pressure."  
  
Teshima shook his head and smiled.  
  
Aoyagi glared at him.  
  
"Last year," Teshima said. "I had a plan that I thought couldn't fail. I was really, really sure that we were going to go to the Inter-High... I plotted and I planned and it didn't work. This year... maybe it feels too easy? Like I didn't work hard enough for this--"  
  
"Junta--"  
  
"Kimitaka is an elite, like everyone else on the team, and--"  
  
"Junta--"  
  
"I've never beaten anyone. I think I need to before I'm allowed on the team."  
  
Aoyagi kicked and splashed water all over his captain and half the bathroom, and Teshima laughed easily, openly, as always. Water slicked his wavy hair to his face and dripped down his teasing face. Aoyagi was furious about it and love-stricken in the same moment.  
  
"I'm not an elite either," he grumbled. "I wouldn't be on the team without you, and I  _won't_  be on the team without you. Your fight with Kimitaka is stupid, but you're going to win tomorrow, so it doesn't matter."  
  
Teshima moved across the tub to sit beside Aoyagi. He put an arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the top of the head. "Yeah, okay," he said quietly. "I'll win. Don't worry about it anymore, okay? I'll definitely win. Promise."  
  
"I'm not worried," Aoyagi said, though he didn't meet Teshima's gaze.  
  
Teshima squeezed his shoulder and kissed him again.


	4. Imaizumi/Teshima (Yowapeda)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [doxian](http://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian): [(click for image)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEldGGSWAAERCZz.png)
> 
> This fill contains manga spoilers!

Imaizumi knows what it is to work hard.  
  
No one is born knowing how to do anything. And he thinks, for a long time, that there is no such thing as talent. Every drop of sweat adds up to fill a meter that dictates just how fast he is. Every day of practice adds up slowly as milliseconds shaved off his best time. He rides long and hard for years and years, and that's why he's good. That's why he's strong. Everyone who is faster or slower is where they are because of the time they've put in, that's all.  
  
But eventually, it becomes clear that he can't look at Teshima Junta and believe such a thing.   
  
Talent will never be enough to push anyone past a finish line, but talent is the multiplier between hours practiced and seconds saved. Talented cyclists improve more after the same amount of work. And Imaizumi is talented after all. He's lucky that every day he trains translates into something tangible and real. It takes him a long time to admit it, even to himself, but Imaizumi has never known anyone to work as hard as he's seen Teshima work. And the bitter unfairness of Teshima's desperately hard work for painfully small gains burns through him.  
  
Teshima deserves to be better than he is.  
  
Imaizumi watches Teshima ride with a dull ache in his chest. There's pain all over his new captain's face as he speeds up, as he climbs, as he struggles without talent. Beside him, the tall stranger appears aloof and unworried, matching his pace easily. Imaizumi is certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that Teshima has worked harder than Ashikiba ever has. It isn't fair.  
  
Imaizumi wishes that there was anything he can do.  
  
He wishes he can give some of his talent to his senpai. He wishes he could work twice as hard so that Teshima could work less and improve faster. He wishes he could ride faster in just that moment -- he wishes he could ease some of Teshima's pain, some of his struggle, some of his bitterness. But Imaizumi can't breathe in that moment, because Teshima is gasping for breath ahead of him. He can't look away. He can't move to catch up. He can't do anything but watch.  
  
Imaizumi knows what it is to work hard. He knows what it is to work hard and lose. He doesn't know what it is to work hard and to lose, over and over again, for his entire cycling history. It hurts. He watches Teshima hurt and continue to hurt, and he wonders -- if it were him, would he still be riding?


	5. Midousuji & Imaizumi (Yowapeda)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [doxian](http://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian): [(click for images)](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/5902.html?thread=2043918#cmt2043918)

It used to be that lots of people rode in front of Midousuji.  
  
He'd look up from the road and there would be a long string of butts riding ahead of him. Some weren't much of butts at all, flat and shapeless, with all the muscles concentrated in the thighs and calves. Some were fat, with too much shape, lumps of uneven meat showing through tight cycling shorts. Eventually, he moved to ride in front of these butts.  
  
The Inter-High was a long race. For the parts of it where he was still pretending, for the parts where he and his underlings kept a low profile and mingled with the pack, he didn't look up too much when the kings and other zaku passed him. He was aware, but he didn't look, he didn't chase. They weren't much to look at, anyway. They were flies that he'd swallow later.  
  
And so he had. But now... he was chasing. All the rouses and tricks were up and he was chasing as hard as he could, but still there was this butt in front of him that would not move or yield. It felt like it had been a long time since he had had to gaze upon such an unpleasant sight.  
  
Kimoizumi's butt was compact and squared, and the muscles from his hamstrings were stretched tight under them as he pedaled. Midousuji plowed into it with his helmet. There was no room to maneuver on the turn. He had to get ahead. He  _had_  to. There was a burst of sunshine and sunflowers waiting for him at the finish line, and he had to be there to see it. His legs were screaming feebly. He pedaled harder. He rammed his head again into the gross zaku's backside, but there was no strength behind it. The butt moved forward.  
  
Somewhere along the way, he stopped looking again. He didn't know where the butt was. He couldn't tell if he was ahead or behind. He kept riding up the hill. There was nothing but the road, the trees, the sky. The sky was yellow, and he smelled flowers. The finish line was at the top of the mountain, and he wasn't there yet.  
  
The butt was ahead of him.  
  
The sound of pedaling and gears shifting and chains chugging rapidly through their chainrings was getting louder behind him. The trees were becoming yellow too.  
  
Midousuji didn't feel particularly happy.  
  
He wondered if the butt ahead of him, if Kimoizumi, saw the same colors he did though.


	6. Nagisa/Rei (Free!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [doxian](http://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian): [(click for images)](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/5902.html?thread=2076174#cmt2076174)

Nagisa loved all of his friends, and he knew that they cared about him too, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't think that there was a bond between the upperclassmen that didn't extend to include him. And that was fine, really... even though he had been part of their childhood relay team, he had always been the tagalong.   
  
Haruka and Makoto had been friends since they were born. Rin, well. Nagisa had watched him worm his way in, and though he still didn't quite understand the extent of his relationship with Haruka and Makoto, he knew it was different from what he had with Haruka and Makoto, who definitely still saw him as a weird kid who followed them everywhere. Rin probably felt the same way about him too.  
  
Maybe they admired him and respected him in their own way; they humored him, at the very least -- and he was grateful for it, truly -- but it wasn't the same.  
  
The funny thing was that it had never really bothered Nagisa before, but after Rei joined the team, it became so much more obvious, that divide between their classes. Rei was frequently uncomfortable, was prone to lecturing, and had a stuffy adult attitude about him much of the time, but despite all this, Nagisa saw him as an equal, and felt that he was being treated as an equal. There was no history that set them apart, and Nagisa was so happy to have a friend that was actually in his class.  
  
The blond was well aware that he was probably the most annoying person Rei had ever met, but like the others, he tolerated Nagisa and occasionally seemed to genuinely like his company, and Nagisa was overjoyed.  
  
It had only been a year, but Nagisa couldn't imagine anymore life without Rei. It had taken him a long time to consider the idea that Rei might be leaving the swim club precisely for this reason. Their relay team and swim club qualifications aside, Nagisa couldn't stand the thought of not being able to talk to Rei about swimming, not being able to swim with him while his senpai were off doing whatever, not being able to tease him -- what had things been like before Rei? He couldn't remember. It hadn't been horrible, he knew, but he didn't want to remember.  
  
Nagisa clutched at the front of Rei's shirt and cried.  
  
Even if he left, they could probably still be friends. Nagisa would go and watch him at track meets, and they'd still be in the same class. They could still have lunch together and Nagisa could still bother him on weekends and holidays. The tears streamed down his face as he thought about it. It wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the same.  
  
"R-Rei-chan..." Nagisa was wailing and sniffling in turns. "Please... please don't go... Rei-chan."


End file.
